This recording was first released in 1995. I’m pleased
that Capriccio have reissued it now but a 53-minute CD is no
better value now than it was 16 years ago, even with a much
brighter more eye-catching front cover. Subscribers to the Naxos
Music Library can listen to that earlier version with its much
plainer cover and compare it with the recordings from Naxos
and Chandos which I mention below.

All the music here dates from Salieri’s early period of
employment in Vienna. It’s all attractive enough to banish
the impression which has held sway for far too long that his
music is boring and incompetent - an impression originally fostered
by Leopold Mozart rather than his son, with whom Salieri appears
to have been on good terms. Forget the film Amadeus -
excellent drama but a travesty of history.

The highlight of the CD is the short chamber-symphony La
Veneziana which gives its name to the recording as a whole,
derived from the opera la Scuola de’gelosi, a work
written for the Venetian Carnival, hence the masked lady on
the CD cover. When it was performed at Esterháza in 1780
Haydn conducted it.

The Triple Concerto is much less adventurous but still very
attractive. The slow movement offers opportunities for each
of the soloists in turn to shine, but the finale is rather too
close to the kind of routine composition which Mozart parodies
in his Musical Joke. I note, however, that no less an
authority on the music of the period than H.C. Robbins Landon
thought the work as a whole deft and entertaining in the manner
of the music which Haydn had composed in the previous decade.

The Concerto for flute and oboe falls somewhere between the
other two works in terms of inspiration. I marginally preferred
this performance to the slightly heavier version conducted by
Richard Hickox on Chandos (CHAN 9051), coupled with the Mozart
flute and harp concerto, of which most collectors will already
have a recording.

The Budapest Strings have a good track-record in music of the
baroque and classical periods, with a number of excellent releases
to their credit - a recommendable version of Vivaldi’s
Op. 8/5-8, 10-12, for example (8.550189). Soloists, orchestra,
leader and artistic director alike contribute to a very successful
recording. As portrayed in the booklet, the Budapest Strings
are a small ensemble - 16 in all - but the rather large-scale
recording makes them sound more numerous.

The quality of the music, performances and recording combine
to add to my enjoyment of this issue. If only Capriccio could
have found more music to boost the playing time or reissued
it at a lower price, my appreciation would have been almost
complete.

If you also enjoy it, your next step should be Matthias Bamert’s
recording of Salieri’s music with the London Mozart Players
on Chandos CHAN9877* - see review
and May 2011/2 Download
Roundup - though that will mean that you will find yourself
with two versions of La Veneziana.

There’s also a Naxos recording of Salieri Overtures -
not including La Veneziana - which Harry Downey thought
‘show the composer in a good light, helped by a decent
recording and playing. Not to be played through one after the
other but as a reminder of a man unfairly treated by posterity
they serve their purpose.’ (8.554838 - see 3-star review).

* Also available with music by other Contemporaries of Mozart
on a USB memory stick, CHUSB0002, equivalent to 12 CDs.

Review
IndexesBy
Label Select a label and
all reviews are listed in Catalogue orderBy
MasterworkLinks
from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to
the review
indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Reviews
from previous monthsJoin the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the
discs reviewed. detailsWe welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin
Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to
which you refer.